Beginners and Beyond

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A Bit of Nostalgia, Bragging, and a Lesson Learned. (Read 83 times)

wcrunner2


Are we there, yet?

    Last Saturday's Dawn To Dusk To Dawn 24-Hour race brought back some memories of my first attempt at a 24-hour event some 42 years ago in June, 1972. That event was not a 24-hour run, rather it was a 24-hour relay. A team could have anywhere from 2 to 10 runners. Each runner would run a mile at a time, no more, no less, before handing off to the next runner and so on until each runner had raced his mile leg. then it started all over again and continued for 24 hours. If a runner missed his turn he was out for the duration. I believe the origins of this event may have been in a competition between informal teams at the US Olympic Training Camp that year. At least the first report I ever heard about a 24-hour relay was between "Blue" and "Red" teams at the training camp for distance runners with the winning team running some 295 miles and change, almost 5 minute mile pace.

     

    I had heard about one being held in Connecticut not too far from where I lived at the time, so after running 11 miles the day before, I drove over to offer my services to count laps or time or otherwise be useful. My club at the time had assembled a 6 member team to run the race, so I was persuaded to become the seventh member and run instead of volunteering. I was totally unprepared and not particularly well rested after the 11 miles the day before, but I agreed. I had no concept of how to run a race like that. I'm not sure anyone there did. So I ran my first mile comfortably in a little under 6 minutes. I was getting about 45 minutes rest between my legs and that pace still felt comfortable, so miles 2 through 7 were also slightly under 6 minutes. Then mile 8 came and I ran 6:01. Oops! Visions of gradually slowing flashed through my mind. I had run enough marathons by that time in my career to know the effects of starting to fast and hitting the wall. So I tried to maintain a comfortable pace and not worry about the time. Mile 9 was under 6 minutes. So was mile 10, then mile 11 and 12. Miles 13 and following continued to be sub-6:00 pace to my amazement as we ran through the night subsisting on crackers and orange juice. Somewhere along there my times dropped to sub-5:50, then sub-5:45, then sub-5:40. About this time I had run some 24 miles or thereabouts. While I no longer have the individual mile splits, I do have a few memories of the progression and averages. One note I do have is my average for the last 8 miles of my final total of 32 miles. My times continued to drop as I ran sub-5:35s, and finally sub-5:30s with the last couple miles in 5:25-5:26. For the last 8 miles I averaged under 5:30 and for the entire 32 miles I averaged 5:42. It was perhaps the best race I have ever run in 50 years of running.

     

    So much for the nostalgia and bragging. The entire race was run in the traditional counterclockwise direction on an old cinder track with a groove in lane one where we ran. After the race my left ankle was a little sore. So did I take it easy for a few days to recover and let it heal? Nooo! I raced 3 miles that Tuesday night, then a week and a half later raced 25K in Toronto. Meanwhile the ankle is worsening and definitely affected my time in Toronto. Like an idiot (I was 25 and invincible, right?), I continued to try to run through the pain despite limping and finally being forced to add race walking to my training because I could run long. Finally I gave in and realized the only way I was going to run again was to stop running entirely until my ankle no longer hurt. For 6 weeks I wasn't able to run a step. When I started back it was only a couple miles at a time and my speed and endurance had suffered in the meantime. My first race back was 2-miles and I ran only 11:45. It took almost a year before I began to even approach the fitness level I had before the injury. The only personal best I set after that was in the half marathon and that because I didn't run my half marathon until 8 years later in 1980.

     

    Much of that was in mind when my ankle, then my knee, started to ache and bother me at Dawn to Dusk. So rather than risk a repetition, I took the cautious path. I've repeated some of my mistake multiple times, but this was one I did not want to revisit. So there you have it, some nostalgia, some bragging, and a lesson learned that may have saved this year of running for me.

     2024 Races:

          03/09 - Livingston Oval Ultra 6-Hour, 22.88 miles

          05/11 - D3 50K
          05/25 - What the Duck 12-Hour

          06/17 - 6 Days in the Dome 12-Hour.

     

     

         

    happylily


      I am in awe of it all, George. Nostalgia? You are still racing well today, so I would call it memories of years past (nostalgia implies sadness and a wish that you could experience it all over again). Bragging? Facts are facts and you have the right as much as anyone else to talk about your races, even though they were run at a level few of us will ever reach. This race is as if you had raced a mile (at a pace I cannot run at) 32 times in one day.  Incredible... I still have to read your RR from last weekend. I was waiting for a quiet moment. I know that I will be just as dumbfounded by what you can do today as I am by what you could do yesterday...

      PRs: Boston Marathon, 3:27, April 15th 2013

              Cornwall Half-Marathon, 1:35, April 27th 2013

      18 marathons, 18 BQs since 2010


      Antipodean

        That was an amazing race, and what a memory! You are entitled to savour it.

        Julie

         

        "It's not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves."

        ~ Sir Edmund Hillary

        Docket_Rocket


          Thanks for sharing (not sure how I missed this thread!).  I find marathons and ultras full of lessons.  And yes, sometimes we are hit hard when it bites us in the behind.  But I think your running has been going well and, although I understand the nostalgia, I think you are a better runner for it and your experiences are still an inspiration.

          Damaris

           

          As part of the 2024 London Marathon, I am fundraising for VICTA, a charity that helps blind and visually impaired children. My mentor while in law school, Jim K (a blind attorney), has been a huge inspiration and an example of courage and perseverance. Please consider donating.

          Fundraising Page

          LRB


            32 miles at an average pace of 5:42, over a 24 hour period; incredible in any era!

             

            So how are you feeling now?  Oh, and it's not bragging when it's the facts.  

            GinnyinPA


              That was an amazing race.  What a memory to hold on to!  I hope the others in your team had similar experiences to look back on. Good reminder to take it easy and save the rest of this year.  Hope you're healed.

                Cool!  That's not bragging at all, George.  And a good cautionary tale.  Thanks for posting it.

                Zelanie


                  Wow, that sounds like a fantastic event.  I would think that it might be harder than a lot of longer events just because you never get that full recovery that you could with a solo endurance race or a relay.  Thanks for sharing it.